There’s a lot of money talk coming from the NBA these days. Perhaps it’s just coincidence that the league will start talks for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement soon. Perhaps it’s the economy. Perhaps it’s both. But the league predicted a 29.3 percent drop in ticket sales by for the Clippers this season (this is where you insert the crack about a 29.3 percent drop for the Clippers being 18 people) and commissioner David Stern said that “less than half the NBA’s teams turned a profit last season and that some owners had argued that a worst-case decrease in the salary cap of 5 percent might be too optimistic. He added teams could expect a 10 percent drop in ticket revenue next season.”
At least they didn’t lay anybody off.
Incidentally, these are the teams that paid the luxury tax for last season, and the rounded-off amount. The luxury tax is a dollar-for-dollar tax for a team whose payroll went above $71.5 million:
New York Knicks: $23.7 million
Dallas: $23.6 M
Cleveland: $13.7 M
Boston: $8.3 M
LA Lakers: $7.2 M
Portland: $5.6 M
Phoenix : $4.9 M
That’s money out of pocket, and it’s why I believe Cavs owner Dan Gilbert said his team is in the break-even range with its payroll.
I’m still not endorsing his downtown casino idea though.
"Break-even range" has a nicer ring than the truth of "bleeding profusely" range. If James leaves, the Gilbert-Ferry five-year business plan will have to rank right up there as the NBA's version of Enron.
Don't forget about his Cincinnati casino, too. Gilbert is not just about turning downtown Cleveland into an urban paradise.
Three quick points:
1) No one goes downtown Cleveland for anything now. It's a ghost-town. Could a casino really *hurt* ? You gotta think about the overall economy and attractions. Unless you give people a reason to return to Cleveland, they ain't comin'. Time to get off the "no casino" kick.
2) Less than 1/2 of the NBA teams are turning a profit. What kind of a warped business model is this? And the league has a "salary cap," mind you. Can't the agents and players (and idiotic owners) see that they are canibalizing their sport, pricing themselves right out of business? Word to the wise, Major League Baseball: better start getting your house in order, after the much-needed departure of Devil Fehr. Or you'll be out-of-business before you know it.
3) New York Knicks, $23.7 million over the cap! That is just hilarious, and couldn't happen to a more dysfunctional, assinine, joke of a franchise. BIG, BIG belly laugh, if you ever think LBJ would want to step into your pile of dung. You traded for Marbury and Larry Hughes, right? How's that workin' out for ya? (my belly hurts, I'm laughing at you so hard)
Jason, you may not have noticed, but Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas are no longer in New York. Also, that willingness to pay $23.7 in luxury tax no matter the year, no matter the record, is a prime reason that James should and will strongly consider the Knicks. Not to mention the fact that one franchise now has Danny Ferry making personnel decisions, the other doesn't.
Also, please. A casino? Why not just open a whorehouse? That would bring folks in from the suburbs for a couple of hours per year, too. Daniel Gilbert, Chief Financial Pimp.